So today we go to Meta Platforms $META with the results!

In an exciting week of events after yesterday's close, another big company gave us a glimpse into its performance and the results exceeded expectations. Congratulations to those who are holding or possibly put a call option yesterday. 😊

A company that I've often heard underestimation and a wave of Zuckerberg hatred for showed yesterday that it's a company to be reckoned with. The company's $META revenue numbers beat expectations, totaling $32 billion versus the $31.06 billion estimated by Wall Street. It also achieved revenue of $32 billion to $34.5 billion in the current quarter, up from the $31.2 billion expected by analysts. Earnings per share of $2.98, ahead of expectations of $2.92.

"We had a good quarter," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "We continue to see strong engagement across our apps and have the most exciting roadmap I've seen in a while, with Llama 2, Threads, Reels, new AI products in the pipeline and the launch of Quest 3 this fall."

Additionally, Facebook and Instagram also reported advertising revenue of $31.5 billion, higher than the expected $30.43 billion. The company's monetization key on its platforms is also showing - it jumped 34% year-over-year as the price of advertising fell 16% over the same period. And whether we feel that fewer people are using the app in today's world where social apps are overabundant in my opinion, Facebook's daily active users also beat expectations, with the company reporting 2.06 billion compared to estimates of 2.03 billion.

For me, these are still really great numbers and it's clear that $META 's products have gotten under people's skin and what are we going to do, everyone uses them somehow. The only place they are still losing money and will continue to be is the VR division of Reality Labs. There they posted a larger operating loss than expected. Reality Labs lost $3.74 billion in Q2, which is more. Wall Street had expected a division loss of $3.68 billion.

In a statement, $META CFO Susan Li said, "For Reality Labs, we expect operating losses to increase significantly year-over-year due to our continued efforts to develop augmented reality/virtual reality products and invest in the continued expansion of our ecosystem."

"There are, of course, others in the industry now working to bring mixed reality to market, but Quest 3 will be the first mainstream device that many millions of people are expected to experience." "We pioneered mixed reality with our Quest Pro headset, and Quest 3 takes it to a whole new level," Zuckerberg told analysts.

So I'd be cautious here and I'm still left with a love for Apple and trust its VR much more, even though we'll wait longer for it and it will also be more expensive of course. But otherwise, what can I say in conclusion, although Zuckerberg likes to take inspiration from elsewhere and sometimes "borrow" an idea, his apps simply rule the roost as far as active use is concerned and that provides him with enough revenue to grow even though he's burning a lot of money in VR. Personally, I've sold stocks that I bought somewhere around about $160 a piece and at a price of around $300 I collected a profit. Now the price is already high for me but watching it will definitely continue. 😊